David Esposito
President & CEO, ONL Therapeutics
David Esposito is President and Chief Executive Officer of ONL Therapeutics. He was an Army infantryman before he entered the corporate world, and started in life sciences as a sales representative at Merck. The bulk of his career since has been in early-stage company building, spanning successful product launches and exits as well as companies taken into bankruptcy.
ONL Therapeutics is developing therapies to protect retinal cells, with programs advancing into large chronic indications including age-related macular degeneration. He describes the company’s own worked example of reading a data point correctly: an acute study that was scientifically important, demonstrating target engagement, in an indication too small for the investors who wanted the large chronic ones.
On Open Door Salon he talks about the decisions that do not announce themselves. A term sheet that moves while it is being closed, a program that is performing but is no longer the priority, and the point at which a company has prioritized itself into a single swim lane with no backup. He is direct about having taken companies over the cliff, and about what he thinks was missing when it happened.
Frequently Asked Questions About David Esposito
Who is David Esposito?
David Esposito is President and Chief Executive Officer of ONL Therapeutics. He served as an Army infantryman before entering the corporate world, and began in life sciences as a sales representative at Merck. The bulk of his career since has been early-stage company building, a record that includes product launches and exits alongside companies he took into bankruptcy.
What does David Esposito’s company ONL Therapeutics work on?
David Esposito leads ONL Therapeutics, which is developing therapies to protect retinal cells. Its programs are advancing into large chronic indications, including age-related macular degeneration. He has described one of the company’s own studies as a worked example of reading a data point correctly: an acute study that was scientifically important, demonstrating target engagement, in an indication too small for the investors who wanted the large chronic ones.
How does David Esposito approach hard calls under a fixed runway?
David Esposito focuses on the decisions that do not announce themselves: a term sheet that moves while it is being closed, a program that is performing and is no longer the priority, and the point at which a company has prioritized itself into a single swim lane with no backup.
What does David Esposito say about leading a wind-down?
David Esposito is direct about having taken companies over the cliff, and about what he thinks was missing when it happened. On Open Door Salon he described the rate at which bad news arrives: “There’s kind of a gut punch or a new data point every couple of days, whether it’s a manufacturing, a regulatory hurdle, a clinical site issue.” He holds that a company still owes departing staff help finding a good spot.
On Open Door Salon
“David Esposito and Pavel Khrimian on What the Last 90 Days of a Biotech Wind-Down Look Like”
David Esposito & Pavel Khrimian · September 2, 2026
Episode page & show notes on Open Door Salon
In this episode
- Exits, launches, and companies taken into bankruptcy
- Letting go of the obsession with control
- Reading a new data point and deciding whether to pivot
- Build a base case, then watch it move
- Why it is always about the team
- Doing everything right and still losing
- The ninety days before the decision
- When a pharma collaboration collapses in diligence
- Pivot or close: the three questions
- Investors, patients, and your team at the same time
- The obligation to patients still on therapy
Topics
Watch on Open Door Salon
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